Joel 3:6
“The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →God indicts the nations for selling the people of Judah and Jerusalem as slaves to distant Greeks.
What Does Joel 3:6 Mean?
The cruelty reaches its peak: the nations sold the children of Judah and Jerusalem to the Grecians, traders who would carry them far away. The aim was to remove them as far as possible from their homeland, severing every hope of return. Selling human beings into distant slavery was among the gravest wrongs, tearing people from family, land, and the worship of their God.
God names this trafficking of His people as a crime He will avenge. The deliberate effort to scatter them beyond return makes the offense all the worse, yet it cannot defeat God's purpose. In the verses to follow He promises to bring them back and to turn the judgment on their sellers. The God who hears the cry of the enslaved and the exiled is moved on their behalf. This is the heart of a Redeemer who buys back His own, a longing that finds its fullness in the One who came to set captives free.